


Policy and Politics of the Unemployed

by izumi2



Series: Context: The Accords Have Yet to be the Problem (Team Iron Man BTW) [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) - Fandom
Genre: Author can't believe some people, Author is still bitter, Civil War Team Iron Man, Money doesn't fall from the sky, There is no 'bashing' but just as a warning:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-02 10:57:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12725322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izumi2/pseuds/izumi2
Summary: People notice that none of the Avengers have actual paying jobs... where is the money comming from? SI? Tony Stark? The government? Public safes? Overseas accounts?How much money is being invested in the Avengers? On what and why?~*~For some reason, once I updated the last chap, the summary was truncated and try as I might, my original keeps being cut off mid-word.Anyways, inspired by a comment that said that Steve was getting 'back pay' from his time serving. Not a thing (I looked it up). And even if it was... the Avengers were either being paid by Tony or the government (that they refuse to answer to because it's corrupted and full of red tape).#Team Iron Man.Edit: PS-Look I tried, but when Cap fans completely ignore warnings, tags and even hashtags while lecturing about how ONLY Tony fans keep harassing Cap fics WHILE harassing a Tony fic... and then accusing people of double standards... I'm honestly laughing actually.





	1. The Questions

**Author's Note:**

> I HATE doing this about money because this is FAR from the only thing Tony contributed in but... it's still important, because money doesn't fall from the sky. 
> 
> As it is I think it's 60% about money and 40% about general stuff.

“We are open to questions now.” Maria motioned for some random journalist and prayed. Since Stark left, these interviews have been a massacre.

As people that never had a microphone shoved into their faces. Maximoff and Wilson were understandably out of their depths. Maria could even understand Barton somewhat and Romanoff’s only experience was that Congress hearing that ended up with the redhead metaphorically giving everybody the finger. And Rogers… well, patriotism can only do so much but so far it seems to be working with women yelling, men nodding approvingly and for those that didn’t like it, the most they did was roll their eyes.

Vision got out of it by saying that he wanted to adapt and train before coexisting with civilians… which kinda puts Maximoff in a very bad light whose first mission was two weeks after Sokovia’s fall. Something that Maria stressed many times that it should not be in any shape or form mentioned to **_anyone_**.

Even then, there were moments were pure pearls got out of their mouths that Hill wanted to bash her own head in. No matter, if nothing went wrong, then in little more than two years the Accords will be ratified and these people will no longer be her problem.

“Now that Dr. Stark is officially out of the Avengers who will finance the team?”

That made Steve frown, “Tony never… **_paid_** us. We are not his kept-men.” and sent and sent a disappointed look towards the blonde woman that made the question.

Another reporter, this time a middle aged woman raised her hand, “Then where the money for your tech, clothes, housing and even food come from? The government?” cue for suspicion to rise amongst the reporters.

If it wasn’t Tony Stark’s or SI’s money these people were spending… whose resources were they using? The only other option was some politics gathering favor for his or her campaign and that was unacceptable.

When no answer was forthcoming for several minutes, Natasha knew that she had to take the reins.

“Of course not, the Avengers are apolitical. As a unit dedicating ourselves to protect the world as a whole, it is against our code, so to speak, to publicly support a candidate or even a government.” Not good enough of a distraction, Natasha realized grimly. She was used to one-on-one manipulation, not entire rooms full of bloodthirsty sharks.

“Then **_where_** is all this money coming from?” the same woman insisted.

“Mr. Rogers misspoke a little.” Maria jumped in smoothly enough but not enough that the reporters didn’t notice that the ‘official’ Avengers had no real answer, “Dr. Stark **_is_** financing the Avengers when about employing former, cleared SHIELD agents to be ground soldiers in order to make perimeter and gather intelligence and the equipment is made by Tony Stark personally with no ties to Stark Industries.”

“Then I repeat my previous question: with Tony Stark out of the Avengers, who will continue his work?” the first young man got up again.

“A series of tech companies including but not limited to HAMMER Industries, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft are in talks about contributing to the Avengers Initiative, Sony also expressed interested as did Oscorp and Rand Corporation. We are looking for other, more internationally based venues to continue our… apolitical stance.” Probably the only ones that noticed her distaste in the word were those that knew Maria really well. Not much in the world survives or can even afford to be ‘apolitical’ especially not what is basically a Black Ops.

“Ok, so this covers how the Avengers will keep operating but how about your personal lives? Is ‘Avenging’ now a recognized profession? How are you paying for room and board so to speak?”

“No.” Hill replied fast enough but she really hated the answer she was about to give, just knowing what would happen next, “Personal expenses are currently being covered by Tony Stark.”

And here was the storm. Flashes and questions fired like a machine-gun, voices rose, attempting to be heard. With a sigh, Maria sneaked a glance towards the Avengers and frowned at what she saw: Rogers and Maximoff were staring back at the uproar of reporters with confusion, Wilson was eyeing Rogers like he wanted to ask something and Romanoff was the only one that seemed grim at what just happened.

“Yes?” Maria pointed someone at random. What difference did it make at this point?

This was **_not_** the direction she wanted the interview to take. Perhaps some uncomfortable questions about the disparity in female to male ratio of membership or even about Maximoff’s less than stellar past, something that they were trying to keep under wraps as much as possible.

“Do you find it acceptable to live off of a billionaire’s pocket?” it was a quirky young woman that asked, completely indignant.

Maria’s mouth was already open but before she could answer, Rogers leaned down to get closer to the microphone on the table, apparently forgetting that all of them had one attached to their clothes.

“The Avengers serve the people for the people’s sake, we don’t make money being an Avenger, and no one pays us to do what we do. Tony… just, is just contributing where he can.”

“By paying for your stuff as if you were his kids?” a balding man with a non-nonsense frown deadpanned in the first line.

“By supporting the Avengers.” Steve corrected firmly.

“Well, yes, I can understand Tony Stark developing and producing the tech to keep the Avengers running. Your jets, armor, equipment in general but I believe that what we are trying to understand is where it includes your ability to function as an adult, a tax paying adult, with steady jobs that don’t depend on a billionaire to eat, I mean, do any of you even pay taxes?” A man in a well cut suit received applause. Fricking applause.

This gave Steve pause. Taxes. That was something so…normal, so common and yet he couldn’t remember doing that even once since waking up in that fake set up of SHIELD’s back in 2011. The rest of it… to be honest, Steve never thought of that either. Ever since waking up, SHIELD handled all his bills and even screened his letters, after it, Tony did it. Well, Tony didn’t screen his letters; they keep accumulating until it formed a huge pile.

It’s not that Steve wanted to neglect them but Tony was right about one thing: doesn’t matter who you are, if you are famous, then you’ll get hate mail or fan mail or just span whatever it was or pamphlets. It got so bad then he just gave up and asked J.A.R.V.I.S and then FRIDAY to turn all of it into emails and screen them for him. It still covered several pages but he usually got a pretty good deal of them done before the month is over. Come to think of it, it has been almost two years since the last time he checked it. Since SHIELD fell and then he had ton of work to get done with the Avengers and Bucky and then Ultron…

Steve blinked himself out of his stupor; apparently Sam was speaking now, “…and most people just use online methods of paying their bills.”

“That doesn’t mean we are living off of Stark,” Sam carefully danced around the fact that Wanda had no job and not even a GED and that Clint and Natasha have been receiving paychecks with Tony Stark’s name on them since SI isn’t involved with the Avengers, “As former military personnel…” but Sam didn’t get the chance to finish the thought.

“I’m sorry, but as a former Marine myself,” a man in third row began, “I know for a fact that during World War II the highest pay Captain Rogers would be for certain not enough to survive nowadays but even if we take his special circumstance of waking up in 2011 and adding his… year and half of service, he wouldn’t be eligible for the CSB/REDUX Retirement System that requires at least 15 years of duty and the High 36 only multiplies your years of qualified service by 2.5% and that is not even considering the fact that, as unfair as it was, no one that enlisted or was drafted during World War II got any other compensation for their time serving other than basic pay for the time they were in active duty and no pension afterwards, the country could hardly afford such a thing post World War, after all. Captain America or not it would leave a very sour taste in the mouths of every other military whose career was cut short for one reason or another leaving them unable to claim pension, military pension…that you would only be able to claim after 20 years of active duty anyway.”

Sam was taken back. He didn’t forget _per se_ of that it’s just… he was too caught up with the idea of fighting alongside Captain America, being an Avenger. Then, Stark truly must have been paying for their… everything, he frowned.

“Come to think of it,” the former Marine continued, “You, Mr. Wilson, wouldn’t be able to claim retirement pay either. We are in 2016 and it says in your Avengers profile that you became 38 this year, but you have already been discharged in 2014 from active duty, meaning that even if you were in the military since you were 18, that would still leave you two years short from being eligible to receive military pension. Are you receiving ‘special’ treatment?” everybody in the room heard the unspoken ‘as well’ in the man’s voice.

This also muted him. Sam grimaced, he was one of the ‘chosen’ to use a set of Falcon wings and the fact that he did so pretty much above reproach for almost a decade was taken into consideration, but the bottom line is that it was used as a means to secure a series of privileges, **_just_** like the former Marine was subtly accusing them. What that man said was true: he served for 17 almost 18 years, this made him three years short of being able to get pension but the higher ups all agreed that due the enormous risks his missions undertook (due to the lack of a plane between his body and the enemy), it granted him leniency because of the more stressful conditions. Which was making him look really bad right now.

“Being an Avenger is a burden and an honor. It takes a lot of time and focus and dedication. Being a protector, full time, is something that I, that we, take pride in.” Wonderfully patriotic… when not hurting other people’s pocket but Steve wasn’t done yet, “We’re just a group of people with amazing abilities and the desire to use those abilities to help people feel a little safer. No one here receives special treatment.”

Hill could only close her eyes. If Steve had stopped at the word ‘safer’ she could have wrapped the whole thing up with a pretty bow and they would leave the podium smelling like roses but that last period of his just invited the predators for lunch.

“Mr. Rogers, if no one ‘receives special treatment’ how can you possibly justify your lack of a steady job? Unless you are telling that vigilantism has odd hours like being a doctor or that it’s like an 8 to 6.”

“What kind of soldiers are you?”

“Is Ms. Maximoff also a beneficiary? Does she think it is her right because she is a Sokovian? Or because she has powers?”

“Tony Stark is not only a billionaire but one of the, if not the most brilliant inventor in the world. We are aware of two former SHIELD agents as Avengers, is it wise to give them access to such resources? Is Clint Barton sufficiently innocent of the HYDRA debacle of 2014? Is Natasha Romanoff responsible enough after her Congress hearing where she got out facing no consequences for her part?”

“If Captain America doesn’t bother with the current American economic system, capitalism, then what is the alternative? Are you in support of socialism or perhaps communism? Governmental interventionism is something that you approve?”

The lights and voices – shouting accusations and demanding stuff – made Steve’s head spin and he wanted to answer all these ridiculous questions, he could barely make out Maria Hill trying to put an end to the press conference, but that last question – almost yelled out – made him indignant.

“Of course NOT! The government intervening with Avengers’ business is something that we won’t tolerate.” The silence Steve was craving was not the one that settled afterwards. And it was soon over anyway.

“Then it is true? If not the government that you vehemently claim has no ties with the Avengers, all funding is coming from a single man?”

“Is that why there were no talks about possible lawsuits against the innumerous gossip columns calling the Avengers ‘freeloaders’, ‘escorts’ and variations in 2014? It wasn’t slander, it was actually the truth?”

“Since SHIELD fell, in what jurisdiction do the Avengers operate? As you claim the government has no ties with the Avengers nor does SI, are you personally employed by Tony Stark? What is the official MO? The same as Iron Man’s parameters? If not, what exactly are the Avengers doing that military, police officers and the like are incapable of doing? What exactly justifies the Avengers' existence?”

“The lack of precedent for something like the Avengers is why the Sokovia Accords began in 2014? How do you feel being the one whose actions originated the document back in 2014 and yet the same document was named after what another of your teammates, or former teammate took responsibility for?”

“We are no longer taking questions, thank you for coming.” Maria finally managed to take advantage of the fact that even reporters are human and therefor need to take a breath at some point to put an end to this nightmare.

She herded the Avengers that were all, except Natasha, looking confused and lost, out and onto the waiting cars to take them back to the Compound.

With a sigh, Maria slumped in her seat. She will have to contact Tony. There is no way she was letting those human disasters do damage control of **_this_**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me nearly three months of research in my free time to write this short fic, among them, in chronological order of when I found and used them:
> 
> [How long Steve Rogers served in the military](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/0/0f/Steve_Rogers_-_Denied_Enlistment_Form.png/revision/latest?cb=20160525232732)
> 
> [Military pay during WWII](https://www.navycs.com/charts/1942-military-pay-chart.html)
> 
> [Retirenent pay nowadays](http://militarypay.defense.gov/Pay/Retirement/)
> 
> [Types of military retirement](https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/plan/retirement-types.html)
> 
> [Requirements for retirement pay](https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/plan/eligibility.html) (which BTW, Steve doesn't fill any).
> 
> [Military Retirement Pay, Pension and Benefits](https://www.moneycrashers.com/military-retirement-pay-pension-benefits/).
> 
> But you know? I'm glad I did this: I learned stuff, I didn't assume anything, I just did research to actually know what I was talking about.


	2. The Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There were no answer... or at least not good ones.

“Christine knows where to hit.” Tony whispered while watching the footage of Christine getting the first question in, “Who tipped her off?”

“You won’t believe it: Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym.” Maria sent the digital folder of a CCTV. It taped Hank paying several parties and sending a paper folder – no way to follow it digitally – but who got it made clear enough to its contents, one Christine Everheart, “What reason could they have?”

“The easy answer is that Pym hated my father and realized how much I would be willing to do to protect the Avengers, but who knows with him?”

Rhodey sighed beside him, “I warned you that this would happen sooner or later.”

“I was kinda hoping it would be ‘later’, you know, when the troop would be no longer our concern.” Maria rolled her eyes.

“There are many talks about protests forming and for the first time since 2012, about vigilantism.” Vision contributed, “People are concerned over Mr. Rogers’ fierce statement that the government is not involved with the Avengers. How we are not answerable to no one and how there is no apparent chain of command that doesn’t end with Mr. Rogers and, as popular as he is in US, other countries are expressing their desires for a clearer form of liaising with a representative. Especially EU since most of Avengers’ missions outside of US took place in Europe.”

“That’s a no-win situation,” Tony closed his eyes, “Either we say that they are freeloaders living on my pocket – which would then enrage people thinking that I could just order them around as if they are my private ‘something’, or talks about ‘privilege’ which would enrage people anyway – or that they are government’s employees in which case people would still get enraged thinking, correctly, that they would be getting paid from money taxed, this when they don’t even have jobs to pay said taxes.”

“And that’s not even covering the fact that because of Rogers’ big mouth everybody now knows that no one is responsible for the Avengers, I mean, if they got interested enough, it would be easy to find out that since SHIELD fell in 2014, we were basically acting as international vigilantes, but no one cared much about that, it’s Captain America, right? But reporters don’t have idols when it’s about headlines.” Rhodey completed the thought.

Maria turned to Tony, “What can we do about damage control?”

The billionaire rubbed his face with a tired sigh, “For now, at least until the Accords are finalized, we can set up something like the UN’s website. Total transparency: how much it costs to set up the Avengers, meaning the bills of the Compound, armor, tech, and transportation. And since now the cat is out of the bag: food, clothes, everything personal. This should stall domestic tension and if we keep Steve out of the spotlight, then US will also calm down which means that other countries will also calm down.”

“This won’t work long term, Tones. At best, this is a way of enticing people to bury their heads in the sand, at worst; they will realize what we are trying to do.”

“Oh, people will notice all right, Honey Buns, but for now this is the best I got. Maria, try to keep the Avengers on US soil, if there is even a hint of international activity and it goes up in flames we’ll be screwed.” But Maria only snorted and crossed her arms.

“Mr. Stark, you have been their teammates for two years, if Captain America decided to go somewhere, what would you do?”

Tony only grimaced in answer.

~*~

“Until people calm down, this will be the MO: if your monthly expenses exceeds 20k per month with the credit cards Mr. Stark gave you, you **_need_** to submit it to this website,” Maria motioned for the tablets un front of each Avenger, “if you use Avengers’ tech or vehicles for personal purposes, you submit it to this website how long you used it for, no need to say where or why.”

“Don’t you think that this is a huge disrespect of privacy?” Sam wasn’t sure that this was really necessary but after that disaster of an interview and people almost busting a gut questioning if the Avengers are too entitled, he knew that something needed to be done. But still.

“Mr. Wilson, if Ms. Maximoff wishes to purchase a 10 dollar box of tampons of course no will say anything or ask anything. However after…recent facts have come to the spotlight, people need to see that being an Avenger doesn’t mean entitlement. Meaning that personal expenses can’t be so much more extravagant than your average New Yorker can spend in a year.”

“No one here wants to be spoiled, it’s not the reason we are Avengers.” Steve glared at her but only got an unimpressed stare in return.

“If that’s the case, why have you done eighteen trips to Europe in the last two years, Mr. Rogers?” when silence was all it got her, Maria took a deep breath, “If you wish to put ‘trip to Europe’ as a personal expense, people will begin to ask questions. I honestly couldn’t care less if you went there to sleep around, plant a bomb or appreciate the view, your average American wouldn’t be able to pay to go back and forth to…” she typed a few times in her tablet, “London, German, Spain, Russia, France and Demark was it?”

“It was Avengers business!” that made her pause, at her stare, Steve could feel his heartbeat accelerating. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“First of all, if there is a side project in the Avengers, how exactly do you think people will feel if one of them goes south and there have been no prior liaising with local government, and the rest of us that you didn’t take to this ‘Avengers business’ are completely clueless? Not exactly the united front we try to present is it? Not exactly the respectful, ‘apolitical’ stance we try to be is it?”

At the wince from Rogers and scowl from Wilson, Maria rolled her eyes.

Rhodes spoke for the first time, “Let’s try this again: the Quinjet takes 8,000 gallons of fuel per hour. From here to say, London, it’s roughly 3,500 miles, the Quinjet makes about 2,500 miles per hour which means that you have spent more or less an hour and half on air equating to 12 thousand gallons of fuel, each gallon can be bought for 1.80 dollars. A trip to Europe in the Quinjet takes 43,200 dollars never mind the actual use of the Quinjet, but you two,” he eyed Rogers and Wilson, that were pale and beginning to sweat, “took eighteen trips, which ups the number to $777,600 dollars in the last two years, what exactly the rest of the populace will think of this? And the best part is: we can’t hide it! It’s in the Quinjet’s flight logs!”

By now Natasha and Wanda were both looking at Sam and Steve, also incredulous.

“We… we were…” but Rhodes only waved his hand at Steve’s stammering.

“We told you we couldn’t give less of a crap for what you do in your free time, it’s not us that you’ll have to explain this!” and he jerked his head towards the tablet in Maria’s hands.

“You’ll have to explain how is it that with no job and no pension and not even filling for unemployment insurance you can just take trips to Europe in a high tech Quinjet.” Rhodes handed a tightly bounded stack of papers to Sam and Steve before turning to Natasha and Wanda, “While Natasha hasn’t spent nearly as much, why ever do you need an Ak-47? A Kris knife? Does Tony not equip you enough? And I honestly have no idea why Wanda needed a Jimmy Hendrix guitar that you bought in an action for almost $400,000! Are you clinically insane?”

Steve’s first reaction was to defend Wanda; surely a guitar didn’t earn an insult, but four hundred thousand dollars? What in the world…?

“The free ride is over.” Rhodes said firmly, starting to get mad actually, he knew that Tony was supporting the Avengers but not like **_this_**.

“Captain, I would need to speak with you in private…”

“No, no need, I… there is no need for secrecy.” Hill raised her eyebrows but acquiesced and didn’t even wait for Rhodes to be completely out of the room to hand another set of folders.

“I talked with a military liaison this morning and they will abide by the MIA compensation. Normally that would meant 138 dollars per month as was your basic pay while you were serving but since you’re Captain America, US is willing to accommodate you.” Maria didn’t react but she couldn’t help but think that this was another ‘detail’ that they should at the very least, ‘hide in plain sight’.

It really wouldn’t do for militaries or their families that had a MIA case and didn’t get anything near as good find out about this.

“Either way, as they years went by the basic pay you would get if you were enlisted increased, of course the compensation would stop by 2011 when you were found but medical was still covered. This is your account’s information, there is $749,922.84.”

“What!?” Steve wasn’t the only one to react. Sam was also wide eyed.

“Usually, you would only be entitled to the basic pay you were getting before the MIA status, meaning hundred and thirty eight dollars monthly but considering your special circumstances, the pay was adjusted as the military salary was adjusted too and we also round up the months.”

The numbers were making Steve’s head swirl.

“This was actually an extremely good deal I managed to cut with President Ellis,” Maria was pretty sure the man was a Captain America fan but that was not here or there, “or else your total would only be $112,608. It was good a thing too. Mr. Stark might have thought nothing of you using his vehicles for something other than Avengers missions, but the rest of US are not as forgiving. You might still need to pay for the trips you took in the Quinjet if only to appease the public. The same applies to you, Mr. Wilson.”

~*~

Three months later, against Maria’s advice, almost order really, Steve made another trip across the pound and took Sam to Lagos. Natasha went with them and invited Wanda along so she could gain experience.

People died, got hurt, property was damage and the international community was up in arms.

~*~

“As you probably already know: this is the Sokovia Accords…”

“The what?” Wanda interrupts the former general which makes Maria, Tony, Rhodes, Vision and Secretary Ross himself freeze up. Natasha didn’t freeze but she was looking at Wanda a little incredulously.

“The Sokovia Accords.” Rhodes enunciated, a grim expression slowly crawling into his face, “You know what they are, right?”

When Sam and Steve also squirmed, not even Ross could help but gape a little.

“Have you watched the news in the last two years? At all?” Rhodes demanded, actually beginning to get angry.

~*~

“This sounds like a lot of red tape.” Steve shook his head.

“How would you even know?” Rhodey grumbled to himself and Steve couldn’t help but blush.

Maria sighed and sent a deadpan look towards Rhodes before turning to Rogers, “You do realize that without this you won’t be answerable to anybody, right?”

“Look, we made mistakes, but the best hands are our own.”

“I doubt that Nigeria would agree, but even if that’s the case then it means that you would be officially a Black Ops, vigilantism to the nth degree.”

“What? The Avengers saved the world, people know that we are not trying to…terrorize.”

“A small group of armed people that invade cities all over the world and leave destruction in their wake.”

“Invade?” Sam interrupted Rhodes.

“Did any of you ever even ask permission?”

“If this is about the money thing…” but this time it was Rhodes that interrupted the former airman.

“Oh, so happy you mentioned that. This,” he shook a copy of the Accords, “will finally stop people from calling you freeloaders. You will be official employees and…”

“What about the credit cards?”

“Those cards are actually from Mr. Stark’s personal account, Wanda.” Vision explained patiently. The woman scowled at that.

“Ok, everybody silent!” Maria took a deep breath, “How much exactly do you know about the Avengers’ logistics?”

“Tony pays for our personal expenses and provides the gear.”

“Not very accurate,” she nodded to Natasha, “the U.S. government has been sponsoring part of the activities, mostly the gear since they commissioned a number of the body armors for the military themselves. That is actually one of the reasons there hasn’t been any charges brought to Mr. Stark since they were footing part of the bill and people didn’t even know where to complain.”

“Do you understand how this looks?” Rhodes was tired and it showed in his voice, “None of you have jobs so the options are: you are either being kept by a billionaire and by definition you are freeloaders but part of the bill is being footed by the government. The same one that compensated Steve for his time in the ice as MIA by more than a half a million dollars, the same corrupt government you were just complaining about not wanting to answer to. And that, before you even read the damn Accords in the first place and therefor before even seriously considering the option at all.”

When there was no immediate answer, Rhodes just flopped in the nearest chair. He was suddenly feeling exhausted.

Maria cleared her throat, “The U.S was… I guess, proud is a good enough description, of the Avengers and by sponsoring us, they were showing their support. That changed when Ms. Maximoff became a member.”

“Why?” Rogers demanded.

“Never mind the Accords for now; have you watched the news about refugees in EU countries? Granted, most of them are not even in Europe but there is an overcrowding issue, with elections right around the corner and the idea of closing borders being the most popular amongst the party that are leading the polls, Ms. Maximoff’s presence in US will not be very acceptable, at least legally. US were not very happy to get her a work Visa in the first place, the fact that she is Sokovian and was heavily involved in an international incident just escalated this. If, and that’s a big ‘if’, we managed to fight for her working Visa then she would actually have to be working here.”

“So that’s Wanda’s options: sign or be kicked out?”

“Not in so many words, but what were you expecting?”

“She is an Avenger, a hero!” Steve insisted.

“People lose their green card for a lot less than being sued for manslaughter and illegally crossing sovereign borders and then you expected that Nigeria wouldn’t request extradition?”

“Why signing the Accords would change that?” Sam asked before Steve could say anything else.

“It would give her a clean slate.”

“Not exactly,” Tony pronounced himself for the first time and rolled his eyes at the stares he was getting, “there is a precedence created by Natasha’s and Clint’s pasts: being an Avenger and working off their sentence like that. At every successful mission, a panel would discuss if a specific past crime would be pardoned or the sentence lessened until your records gets wiped entirely. But yes, considering the fact that no one would go to prison and the relative freedom, it’s comparable to, but no exactly, a clean slate.”

“And odd hours, a six to five?” Sam asked sarcastically but Stark answered calmly.

“In Wanda’s case and, depending how the investigation on Lagos goes, yours, Steve’s and Natasha’s, in a way, yes, but you won’t have access to your salaries until the criminal records are non-existing again. Quarters and personal needs would be covered by the UN.”

“And Wanda would be able to stay in America?” Sam was starting to sound thoughtful.

“Well, if the UN buys the Compound as there have been talks about it, nothing concrete yet, then she should be able to stay here. There shouldn’t even be much monitoring aside from saying where she is going if she wants to leave the Compound.” The billionaire shrugged.

“‘Should’?” Sam wanted to be certain even as he was deliberately ignoring Steve’s clear wishes of saying something.

“In the case that the UN not purchasing the Compound then in another UN facility.”

“That sounds fair.” The airman admitted and Rhodes could only roll his eyes at the grudging tone.

“No, it doesn’t!”

Rhodes deadpanned, “I’m surprised at your vehemence, Mr. Rogers, don’t you want the chance to earn your Captain rank?” the man sighed at the exclamations, among them, Wilson’s, “The highest military rank you would be able to achieve and keep as an Enlisted is Sergeant Major. ‘Captain’ is already an Officer rank and unless you are hiding a college degree somewhere then you didn’t became an Officer, since it’s a requirement. If you sign the Accords then they are willing to give you the chance to get a degree and earn your rank through ROTC. You too, Wilson.” He added as an afterthought.

 _I’m gonna end up losing my eyeballs_. The colonel thought after rolling his eyes again. And this time it actually ached a little because of how often he did it today.

“As an added bonus, all the families of the affected SHIELD personnel that got burned in 2014 will be compensated and drop the suits.”

“Wait, legal suits?” Steve was floored but Rhodes’ patience has already run out.

“No, tailored ones.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, my research:
> 
> I took the Quinjet schemes as being similar to this model, fastest one I found that was not experimental:
> 
> [SR-71 Blackbird.](https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-fastest-fighter-jet)
> 
> [Top speed and fuel intake.](http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/sr71-blackbird-worlds-fastest-plane/index.html)
> 
> [Jet fuel price.](https://www.flightdeckfriend.com/ask-a-captain/how-much-does-jet-fuel-cost/)
> 
> [Distance from NY to London.](https://www.distancefromto.net/distance-from-new-york-to-london-gb)
> 
> [Military salary.](https://www.navycs.com/charts/1942-military-pay-chart.html) I didn't magically came up with the numbers I used.
> 
> [Captives, MIA, POW Entitlements.](http://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Home/Benefit_Library/Federal_Benefits_Page/Captive__POW__MIA_Entitlements.html?serv=147)
> 
> [Highest Enlisted Rank in the Army.](http://work.chron.com/highest-enlisted-rank-achievable-us-army-27552.html)
> 
> [Difference between an Enlisted and an Officer and what are the requirements to become an Officer.](https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/become-an-officer/army-officer-faqs.html) (a Bachelor degree... so Steve CAN'T be a Captain).
> 
> Finally, my math (and I insist on putting it here and this is assuming that the RSS paid for personal needs so Steve wouldn't have to, so it just accumulated): 
> 
> 1944 - 1946: 138 X 24 = 3,312  
> 1946 - 1949: 165 X 36 = 5,940  
> 1949 - 1951: 198.45 X 24 = 7,144.20  
> 1952 - 1954: 206.36 X 24 = 4,952.64  
> 1955 - 1964: 206.39 X 108 = 22,290.12
> 
> From 1965 to 2012 the highest pay an Enlisted,with less than two years of service would get, monthly, increased by about 50 dollars every year (sometimes as little as 20 and sometimes a little more than a 100) until it reached 2,680 in 2012. I actually did the leg work and summed everything until I got $749,922,84 (rounding UP the months).
> 
> IF Steve only got his due, meaning what he was getting before the status of MIA began as it was clearly stated in the MIA entitlements: 138 monthly, then it would have to multiply that by the number of months he was in the ice: 68 years (1944 to 2012) x 12 = 816 months.
> 
> 816 x 138 = 112,608.
> 
> There are three possible alternatives for compensating Steve as MIA:
> 
> 112,608.00 (the highest salary he would be getting back in the 40s x the number of months in ice - as it clearly stated as his right as MIA but whatever).
> 
> 749,922.84 (making the curve - fair or generous depending on your pov).
> 
> OR 2,297,856.00 (the highest pay an Enlisted would get TODAY x the number of months in ice - ridiculous and, like a reader pointed out: the Congress would never go for it).
> 
> See how beyond ridiculously generous I am?


End file.
